How To Make 2009 Your Best Blogging Year

A new year brings a new beginning. You can look at it as the same old same old, or you can look it as an opportunity to for a new start. Here’s how to make 2009 you best blogging year.

Have A Consistent Posting Frequency

Blogging is not a get rich quick scheme. Many new people read this blog and think it had always made a lot of money. The truth is, I started just like you did. For the first eight months of the blog’s life, it made absolutely nothing and barely cracked 1,000 page views per day.

If I were to nail down one ingredient to blogging success, it would have to be a consistent posting habit. Most bloggers fail because they want instant gratification and mistakenly think that blogging is a quick road to riches. They’ll post like crazy for a few weeks, maybe even a few months. When nothing comes from it, they quit and become a statistic.

On again, off again blogging doesn’t work. The key is consistency. This blog has average over two posts per day since the day it was created. There has never been a day that has gone by where there has not been a new post to read. It is this kind of consistency that will lead your blog to success in 2009.

Choose a posting frequency and make a commitment to stick to it. In order for something to become a habit, you have to do it everyday for at least 28 days. Blogging for me is a habit. I feel strange if I don’t get up at least one new post everyday. Fortunately, this is a very good habit to have. Over the course of a few years, it will become a very profitable habit.

It’s Time To Brand

If you haven’t already done so, it’s time to give your blog a domain name and get out of Blogspot or WordPress.com. You want to build your brand, not their. 175,000 new blogs are created everyday. Branding is what will separate you from the masses.

Make a goal to give your blog a new unique blog design in 2009. Have some business cards made up. Treat your blog like a serious business. Most don’t treat blogging seriously because of its low start up cost – easy in, easy out. If blogging cost $100,000 to start, a lot more people would treat it seriously.

Very few normal businesses can be started for $8.95 (cost of a domain name) and glow into a $400,000 operation in three years. But that is the power of blogging if you take this seriously and continue to work at it on a consistent basis.

Get To Know Your Readers

Blogging is all about forming relationships. There’s the relationship between you and the readers and relationship between you and other blogs in your niche. Make a commitment to get to know them and form that relationship.

In addition to getting to know your readers, you should have your readers get to know you. If you haven’t done so yet, then make 2009 the year to tell your story. Where did you come from? What are you goals and dreams? Introduce your family members. The more the readers know about you, the more they’ll connect with you. Eventually, your story will become a valuable part of your about page.

Start That Mailing List

I’m a big believer the Blog Mastermind and Become a Blogger way of blogging. Both systems teach you to start a blog and capture leads. While many bloggers ask their readers to subscribe to their RSS, I would much rather have the readers subscribe to my mailing list.

You can do far more things with a mailing list than you can with RSS. A list is fantastic for keeping your readers in touch with posts or projects that you’re working on. It’s also a great way to get feedback. And, once the list is big enough, it’s huge money maker. I use Aweber to handle my mailing list and I highly recommend them.

Get On Twitter

As hard as it is to believe, there are still people not on Twitter yet. I know because I’ve seen a few readers comment saying they are not on Twitter and for some reason, seem proud of that fact. If you’re reading this blog, I’m going to assume you want to learn how to make money online. If that’s the case, then I am telling you now, YOU NEED TO BE ON TWITTER. If you don’t get on Twitter now, you’re going to miss out big time. Mark my words on that one.

Stay In Quadrant 2

If you ever read the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, then you’ll know about the time quadrant. Basically, Every activity we do during the day can be put in one of four quadrants:

Urgent and important (crises, pressing problem, deadline)

Not urgent and important (Relationship building, planning, exercise)

Urgent and not important (Interruptions, some calls, emails, etc.)

Not urgent and not important (Busy work, time wasters, pleasant activities)

Answer this question: What one thing could you do in your personal and professional life that, if you did on a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in your life? Chances are, whatever you name, it’s a Quadrant 2 activity.

Quadrant 2 is the heart of effective personal management. It deals with things that are important but not urgent, like building your blog, forming relationships, long term financial planning, exercising – all those things we know we need to do, but seldom get around to doing because they are not urgent and can be put it off until some other day. Well, we all know that someday never comes.

Don’t put off what you know you need to do just because it’s not urgent and you can always get to it someday. For many, someday will turn into years or never. I know people who said they were going to get into blogging years ago. I’m still waiting to see their blogs. The main difference between a highly successful blogger and an unsuccessful one is the successful blogger knows blogging is not urgent but it’s important enough to actually get started and keep going.

163 thoughts on “How To Make 2009 Your Best Blogging Year”

great post… I just did my top 5 ways to improve your blog for 2009 last night, we did hit some of the same points but I had a few different items on my list. Get on Twitter was not on my list, because I guess I figured everyone was already on Twitter… it is one of the best markets to be involved in, so I would agree with that one.

chow’s right, it is all about frequency. well, Guy Kawasaki posts all of the time on twitter but I haven’t seen him reply very much. Well, I made a tweet that guy doesn’t respond. I then got a reply from a fellow tweeter that he does and then guy told me that if i asked a question he would respond. Well, I asked to meet him for lunch and I would buy a book for him to sign…..no response. I think that Im going to tweet him back again.

Ok that was off the subject: Twitter followers will come. Create a community that you contribute to. The more you do about yourself and answer questions the more people will see you as someone that is helpful and thinking of others first rather than always looking for a follower or two.

Through twitter I’ve got to meet a number of influential people in the blog industry and now I’ll get to hand out with them at affiliate summit and wordcamp

Hey John, You reply very rarely…You never reply to my comments.
I want you to write a ebook about yourself….your autobiography…I am sure when it comes out on your website with a post for launch, it will be read by bloggers all around the world.
Please do reply his time.

I just got a great poker room affiliate deal, way better than any standard deal I would have gotten by signing up on the affiliate page, because the affiliate manager found me on Twitter and we hit it off there before discussing business.

Twitter is basically like being at an industry conference, every day you go online.

Maybe my impressions of twitter where too high to begin with but so far, I am far from impressed by the service. Twitter to me seems no different than a ship without direction powered by the winds of hype as its only reason for being. Let me put this another way, if you had to PAY to use twitter… would you still use it?

I am on Twitter and Its fun! I don’t do it for relation building or whtever.. But its just like a status message for you. You can send greeting, what are you upto, where are you etc.. So overall Twitter is a relation building tool + the next RSS 😉

I’m like you Jon, although I am a member of Twitter, I can’t say that I am all impressed. I believe it may be different for those who have hundreds of followers as even if a small percentage take notice of their tweets then they are bound to get more results. Perhaps in time we can reach the same heights they have

Twitter is a fantastic tool Taris. You need to use it. Get some followers and see the way it can drive traffic. After all Traffic is the most important thing. Nice article John. Very motivating for me and has given me a kick on my butt to start planning.

That’s my point, it DOESN’T generate meaningful traffic. I have about 350 followers after about a month being on there and maybe a message I send-out gets viewed by a few thousand by the end of the day. The traffic generated? After sending-out 25 messages I got far less than a 1% conversion (people who actually click on a link).

John Chow and a few other heavy Twitter promoters (with great respect) are rare exceptions… I honestly don’t care what people do in their spare time nor do I wish to converse with people as to where they are right now or what food they fed to their pet… my life is busy as it is.

So far, Twitter is nothing but another social media network that is all shine with little substance behind it. I don’t hate twitter, I just, so far, find it an utterly useless fad and a waste of time. I will most likely be dropping them entirely within the coming week.

Actually I think I do get it. It’s not all about promoting your blog, that is secondary. The idea is to Tweet any sites that you find interesting, and in that way build up your reputation for providing quality tweets. In that way when you do tweet a post you are more likely to generate some traffic. Still for that to work you need a lot of dedicated followers and not those who follow you in the hope you will reciprocate.

What really pisses me off about twitter is the useless banter. I don’t really care that you have milk in your coffee, that the person on the bus is picking is nose, that you are hungry and would love some fries as it’s all useless information. That is over 50% of the Tweets I get.

The purge is complete across my network of sites and now Twitter is gone from my life 🙂 Just because somebody says something that doesn’t go in agreement with others doesn’t make them a loser… a lot has to be said about people who are able to make-up their own mind.

I respect what John and others have been able to achieve with Twitter but for me, it was utterly useless and yes, I did give it a try for about a month. Twitter didn’t fit my business nor my lifestyle… that’s all.

I started using it because I saw it on a blog. I usually will try any of it just to see. It can’t hurt. I then went and downloaded and ebook about it. That set me straight and I got focused on how I use it. It’s all about connecting with people of like minds.

Personally I do believe and agree that consistent posting is the key for any blog success and i have been working on different modules on how not to miss any day of 2009 without posting articles on http://www.webli.st and i hope i will be able to move it to the next level! my goals already set, a plan drawn and written as well, all we have to do is wait and see! I really thank you John for being such an inspirer.

I don’t think that consistently posting can ever be over-emphasized. Posting at least once every day will, by itself, get more attention from the search engine spiders and will give much more eye candy for onlookers.

Keeping up with posts will always give something to look forward to every repeat visit to a web site.

I agree with consistently posting, but it’s more important to focus on QUALITY rather than QUANTITY, don’t you think? I prefer to spend time reading a blog post that was apparently done with a great deal of thought and effort, than one which was put together in a great hurry – just to meet up with the “daily posting” schedule.

Some great tips! I am impressed that you can average 2 posts a day since you have created it… being consistent and never giving up is definitely one of the biggest reasons some bloggers do succeeded and some do not.

I agree with you on Twitter. It is going to go mainstream in 2009 and sooner you get in and started building your name and reputation, the more you will get when everybody starts joining. You will be seen as an expert and a power user and that will help you a lot with your traffic.

I’m going to blog my heart out this year. I currently do 1 post every second day, but when possible I’d like to start blogging once a day. I think it’s great how you do 2 posts a day John, it’s something I’d like to be able to do one day.

You’re telling me there’s someone on the Internet who doesn’t use Twitter!? You have to be kidding me. :p

Alright JOhn – I’m going to take your advice and join up twitter – I am definitely one of those people that has been saying they will not join twitter that you mentioned lol as I’m sure you’ve seen me say it more than once!! 🙂

But if the master of blogging is telling me that twitter will REALLY help me succeed – then I’m gonna have to take that advice 🙂

Great post John. You make a really good poin about newsletters. I had actually never thought about how much more you can do with a newsletter, but you’re absolutely right. That’s something I’ll work on in the coming year!

Actually its my first full year of blogging in my belt… My blog started last May so this is my first January… It always feels refreshing to have your first full year… I already have a nice plan laid out to my blog so lets see how far would I go…

About posting consistency, sometimes I find myself wanting to write a lot while other times I am unable to write new content for one reason or another. I like to write a few articles and have them to post later.

If you’re using WordPress, a good method is to schedule posts for later. Instructions on how to do it from the WordPress site:

I just finished a whole lot of “how to blog” articles, including your Make Money Online – and wow – John – really. You are the best. It is amazing. I have been downloading and saving about 15 of these kinds of ebooks, and I finally read them over the holidays.

Thanks for the tips, I haven’t got my mailing list happening yet, but reading it again here, has made it a priority again (after writing content, getting the look and feel of my blog right and most importantly traffic 🙂 . .

Very impressed (and inspired) that you kept blogging for a full 8 months with zero dollars coming in! (I was thinking about quitting last week, after only doing this for about 3 weeks but managed to get back on track)

Just signed up to your newsletter and look forward to reading your ebook. Not sure if this is deliberate, but I thought I’d let you know that after I entered my details into the form, it opened to another page that says Thank-you and click here to close the window – just wondering should this open in a new window so that I stay on your page? As I had to click on the back button in the browser to get back on your website and post this comment.

Not just post consistently, but quality posts as well. & another thing I notices is that many bloggers are on Twitter – but they never built up any kind of relationship with their followers. That’s bad. 🙂

Terrific post. i especially like the reference to Covey. I’ve read that book a few times and think it’s a must read for any blogger. I’m just getting started on Twitter and I haven’t quite made up my mind on that one yet but I’ll give it a chance. And of course I’ll be posting at a minimum of once per day.

I just got on Twitter…I’m seeing Twitter for over a year now but never really look into it with any interest but for the past few days, I can see where I can be helpful expanding your business. Already it looks like a service I will one day cant go through the day without.

Wow John! For me, this has been one of my favorite posts from you… I think because you’re just so infatic and matter of fact here. I do have a question, what do you do when life happens (i.e. moving, births, deaths, deadline times at work)? You know, those things that you don’t have control over, but when they happen, they seem to fully take over. I’d love to hear your take on this.

Hey John!
I just wanted to say Thank you for enabling a lil ol’ college kid such as my self to actually make some cash to help pay for gas and dinner dates 🙂 I Really appreciate all the time you put into your profession and it really shows in your readership! Reading your blog actually had a small help in a huge decision in my life… I was on the fence of transferring colleges for the love of money or passion (staying at my current school that would provide me cash but entrap me in a realm of imprisonment via cubicle… Or to pursue my love of art) I chose art =D So in a small since thank you– for allowing me to see the true bliss in doing what you love and having time for friends and family in your life instead of staplers and printers… Cheers!

Very interesting post and the perfect one to have on Jan. 1 2009. I started my blog only a few weeks ago and enjoy it very much. It’s obviously very important to blog about something your passionate about because if your not, it becomes a drag. It’s funny, but if I forget to do post I feel bad about it..and then rush to a computer to get it done. I am almost consistently doing a new post every day.

My intention is not to advertise my site on this post and since you recommended the 7 habits of highly successful people, I’m certain you have an interest in personal development, which is what I write about.

If you get a moment, can you take a look at my blog and let me know what you think? My entries are about 2-3 minutes worth of reading. I’m assuming your blog makes at least 400k because of what you wrote on this post, so spending about 3 minutes to read one of my entries on becoming a better communicator would cost you about $2.28 (0.76/minute of your time from a years period) which I would gladly send you via pay pal since an opinion from you is priceless 😉

Thanks for the great tip for the new year. I’ve been thinking about starting with Twitter. Looks like you are firmly in that camp for next year. With so many social networking tools it’s important to select the right one’s.

I have always hosted my own blogs and I understand that people use blogspot and stuff because they are free, but truth be told, for a small outlay there is nothing that beats the total control of hosting your own blog and having your own domain.

I can’t say that I post twice a day on the same blog, perhaps I have too many blogs and I should divulge myself of some.

I agree with some of what you say John but not about Twitter. Many bloggers, some making a lot more than you, have described it as a massive waste of time. Maybe you could expand on why you think Twitter is useful.

Thank you for this post, John. It reminds me of an episode of Jim Henson’s ‘The Storyteller’, when the Storyteller is asked his trade, he replies, “I am a teller of stories, a weaver of dreams. … I am not domestic, I am a luxury. And in that sense, necessary.” It’s not a necessity of life to blog or to read blogs, but we’ve already gotten to a point where at least I can’t imagine a life without it. I feel the same way you do about posting consistency and will definitely make this a priority in 2009! Thanks for putting these reminders out there!

Thanks, John! Nice post is here. I am totally agree on consistency, and relationships, and Twitter, and mailing lists. But my question is: why I have to use WordPress.org instead of WordPress.com? Both of them are free to use, right? What’s the difference?

I have read about you several times but never try to find your blog till now … This is my first comment on your blog and I am pretty glad that I am here. You have a great blog and there is so many things I can learn from you.

John, I totally agree with you that one of the most important ingredient to blogging is this “consistency” blog posting which sometimes can be quite difficult to follow especially when you are busy … This post is a great reminder for me. Thanks! 🙂

Thank you for yr great article which is encouraging and beneficial … I think I must fnd sometime to write about you on my blog. 🙂

Wishing you and your loved ones a Prosperous, Peaceful & Healthy New Year 2009. 🙂

I have 5 twitter accounts – one to follow gurus and people I’ve met, one for my nascent domaining biz, one to follow Obama & the US Election, one to follow Harper and maybe point out policy inconsistencies and one experimental Canucks colour commentary microblog, which I’ve discontinued for now.

My latest follow on twitter is 2009CES as I’ve just booked my flight & hotel to CES. By following 2009CES, I’ll probably get a lot of spam but there’ll be nuggets like product alerts, freebies, celeb sightings etc.

Wow, John – those are some awesome tips you got there. If only more people will follow and implement what you suggest. The biggest problem is that most people WANT to, but they lack the commitment to really do what needs to be done. And guess what – everyone is guilty of that as well. But it’s important to nudge yourself back to action when you find you are off track. Thanks again for sharing.

I don’t think that consistently posting can ever be over-emphasized. Posting at least once every day will, by itself, get more attention from the search engine spiders and will give much more eye candy for onlookers.

Hi John… Heppy New Year…
Hopefully your success can always find in 2009
I have read your ebook. I get a lot of knowledge in the new blogging and online business. I’m a beginner, so I still have a lot of learning, including learning through your ebook.

I enjoyed reading your post, especially the part about consistent blogging. Two posts a day is quite an achievement.

I must admit though, that for some of us that blog part-time, and work full-time, getting those daily posts out can be difficult. But, it’s the start of a new year, so here’s to reaching higher goals in 2009!

It seems that everybody who actually makes some money blogging, makes it by telling other people how to blog and that all of Twitter is filled with people blogging about blogging. I’m sure I’m wrong as I’ve just started to research this, but that’s the way it seems to me.

Why is Twitter better than Facebook or another social networking site such as that??

I’m pretty new to blogging but absolutely agree with what you said. I just put up a post at http://debbiefoster.net about my goals for 2009 using Stephen Covey’s principle of Begin With the End in Mind.

I have high expectations for this year, including the not urgent but important activities in life.

Hi John, I am one of your followers and I appreciate the free information you have been providing us on how to build a successful blog. I was wondering if it is worth spending $497.00 for Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind Lifetime Membership? I am new at blogging and I am experimenting with WordPress.

Are you really first 8 mouth work for nothing? And, are you rally earning so much right now? I am also new in blogging and really skeptic. This ebook of yours, is it really so good as some of this guys say?

Excellent post, especially on treating blogging as a business. What other business can you start which essentially costs you less than $50 (for a domain name and hosting) and has the potential to make you a six figure income if you spend a few hours on it every week?

Slow and steady wins the race with blogging. Aim for 50 posts, then 100, then…

I feel so late in the game. I will be on twitter asap. Thanks for all the useful info you provide. I am truly learning a lot. I enjoy writing my blog and hope I can learn many more tricks of the trade from reading your site to improve it.

Thank you John… Twice a day! I do blog but nowhere near that often. I was told that three times a week would be a good start, a pace that is doable for most. I actually have more than one blog, but the latest one is the one that I am concentrating on and it is a blog on creating a blog and the steps that I am taking to create that blog etc. (I am copy catting Caroline Middlebrook, but using my experience of course), so it seems to me that a daily on such a blog may be a bit much…. would love comments on that. (one of my other blogs is just a weekly commentary — my interpretations and take on life sort of thing and I do this at four o’clock every Thursday)…

best……………valentina

PS… methinks that we live in the same area, perhaps I will have the honour of meeting you at some function.

Let me add about twitter…dont just get ON twitter, be active on twitter. I find that someone puts out great info, I follow them, I respond to them….they ignore me. Take the time to respond to anyone that @s you, even if its just to say thanks for the input. If I respond to someone a few times and never see a reply back, its like a one way conversation, I figure your only interested in your own ego, I drop you.

great post – I ve done a lot of these things but still sometimes its difficult. But I think you are correct, what business can you start for less than $10 and actually grow it into a real profitable business? other than an internet venture?

nice post…yeah it’s quite true that one should need his own domain.especially when one is promoting his blog…i consider another reason for this too…having those blogspot and wordpress names hanging at the end of your blog’s name is a hassle when it comes to typing….hehehee…especially when my blog’s name is so long… another point i’d like to share is, though the $8.5 sounds cheap…it’s a value that’s worth three days work for me here in the Philippines..maybe i’ll keep my blog for this year first..try to build it up…since it’s just 4 weeks old…it makes me write and that’s what i plan this year…write…hope you’ll have successful blogging this year john…and if you are not that busy..try opening another tab and open my blog..please..anyway…nice article….have i mentioned that i also follow you in tweeter?

One thing which really attracting towards getting good blogger is keep posting. At least once in a day. You should always serve new things to your keep coming visitors. If you will stop that than you will loose them and will find other place to visit.

Hi John Chow, thanks for this great post. I recently was banned from google adsense without any reason given even though i’ve been writing original and good content, and not clicking my own ads. So for a couple hours i’ve been feeling a sense of despair about the situation.

Now I see thought that I should treat this like a business and go for real long term gain. So I should most likely get off blogger.com, move to wordpress and make a REAL go at this. I have to admit though it is kind of saddening because I was starting to make around $20 a day.

I really have no idea how i’d monetize what i’m writing about though without adsense. Adsense had plenty of high paying ads for my keywords. Any advice?

I took the first days of this year to relax with my family. With so much free time I like to think of turning this year in my best year dot com.
This article has inspired me and gave me new ideas. I will try twitter.

… For the first eight months of the blog’s life, it made absolutely nothing and barely cracked 1,000 page views per day…

The answer is just what I wondered when I read your ebook and expected results.
Thank you.

Hey John,
Thanks for this great article. I read it twice and everytime i went ahead with a different line it inspired me more. I have a tech blog and i am trying to work hard for it. I am looking forward to increase post counts for it and as you said get on twitter then I would surely get on it because till now i was not on twitter. I hope twitter helps me in better ways to get more traffic to my blog. I will try not to miss a single day without posting on my blog. I will start from two post everyday to 3-4 a day later on.

Thanks for your tips john. I will always come here to learn something and everytime i come here i learn more than what i expect

Love the list John! I actually am one of the few who was yet to get my twitter account and had to go open one up because of this post. I hope I can meet some great people on here now. If anyone is interested, look me up as 100WordRants.

I just stumbled to your site after coming across another site with images of workplaces and then searching flickr for the same. I’ve read a couple articles and watched your video about why you blog. Interesting stuff and everything you’ve touched on here is what I’m doing in 2009.

I lost my job in December and looking back, I’m not sure exactly why I didn’t pursue so many of my dreams while I was working during the last 4 and a half years in the office. I think I kept thinking I didn’t have time, but those were just excuses. Now I have no way I can make up excuses and having my unemployment checks coming in while I look for new work is the perfect time to build up my blogging and my other web development on my sites like rollerhome.com.

Anyway, late reply to this article — but it was especially meaningful to me.

"How I Went From Zero to Over $100,000 a Month"

The Original Dot Com Mogul

John Chow, a damn fine person, friend of the community, Ultimate Fighting Championship contestant, member of the Save the Whales Foundation, the man who controls the black market on baby seal pelts and member of the probably yo’ daddy foundation...

John Chow rocketed onto the blogging scene when he showed the income power of blogging by taking his blog from making zero to over $40,000 per month in just two years.